Twinning Relationships

Holy Cross (Jackson, KY)

Holy Cross, our sister parish in Jackson, KY, is the destination of our annual summer Mission Trip, as well as the one day, “Christmas in Jackson” trip every December. Over the years we have supported them daily with prayers, occasional donations of clothing and food, as well as personal visits to those we have come to call friends. This twinning relationship is based on our common belief in Jesus Christ, and that alone guides our efforts to remain in solidarity with them as we pursue the Gospel message.

Santa Cruz Parish (El Salvador)

This relationship developed in 2002, when Deacon Don Meyer’s son, TJ, was serving in El Salvador as a Maryknoll lay missioner. That connection has deepened over the years, with groups from St. John the Baptist Parish traveling to El Salvador annually and visitors from there coming to Cincinnati every three years. In 2005 the parish established a sponsorship program for Salvadoran school children and includes over 100 sponsored students.

Our Lady of Guadalupe (El Salvador)

This parish split off of Santa Cruz parish several years ago, as a result we now have two sister parishes in El Salvador. Every trip to El Salvador includes visits to both parishes. We also have educational sponsorship in both parishes.

In the 1999 – 2000 school year, St. John’s junior high students began a cultural exchange with two groups of poor landless people – the people of the settlements of Emiliano Zapatta and Falavia Nunes – in central Brazil. The purpose of the exchange, which has been given the name Building Bridges, are to learn about and try to understand each other’s culture, to build a spirit of friendship and solidarity, and to pray for each other. Because of the language barrier, St. John’s students and the children of Emiliano Zapatta and Falavia Nunes have used art to communicate. Over the years, drawings of their respect countries and folklore, their ideas of what God is like, and their Christmas traditions are just a few themes the artwork has taken. Items representing the culture have also been exchanged. Our students have sent such things as St. John t-shirts, Cincinnati Reds caps, US Currency, and Cincinnati Style Chili. A Brazilian flag and a flag of the Agrarian and reform movement, traditional and rock music CDs, posters, and books are some of the items sent by the Brazilian children. Each group of children has learned to pray in the other’s language. Both groups have stood together in solidarity through the terror of September 11th, through cases of cancer on both sides of the exchange, and in the struggle of the people of Emiliano Zapatta and Falavia Nunes to gain their own land, a struggle they finally won in the spring of 2004. After eighth grade graduation, some St John students wanted to continue in the exchange during high school so a Bridge Builders group has been formed. Students from this group visited their Brazilian friends in the summer of 2005.

The students are learning that we share a very small world and that we are united in a very special way with our brothers and sisters in faith.